Michigan Votes Forum

Nobody likes to talk about what it used to take to get one of those high paying union jobs in the "golden Days of Unionism" either.  As it was explained to me by my parents and family you generally had to be related to somebody in the union and then that person had to take you and the union president out to dinner and slip the president a one hundred dollar bill.  (that I'm sure went into the Widows and Orphans Fund) 

That's how my brother got into the IBEW -- I remember the day they went out to dinner, I remember my brother having an apprenticeship the next week.  

Then there's today's flip side of that -- how you and your coworkers can get together, take all the risks and make a majority decision to join a union and then be unable to find a union willing to represent you.  If your "serving costs" are not offset by enough dues they won't even return your phone calls.  Then they'll target some big employer where not even a single worker has asked them to come in and even if they can't get any real worker support they'll keep coming back and coming back because the employer is strategically important to them.  

JOHNJACOBJINGLEHYMERSCHMIDT:

no one is forced to join a union????????  Are you kidding!! If i wanted to apply for work at one of the big three auto companies in michigan for the last hundred years i would be forced to join the united auto workers of america.

Then don't apply at one of the big three auto companies. Apply at Wal Mart. There, you don't have to join a union. Get it?

NancyJE:

Nobody likes to talk about what it used to take to get one of those high paying union jobs in the "golden Days of Unionism" either.  As it was explained to me by my parents and family you generally had to be related to somebody in the union and then that person had to take you and the union president out to dinner and slip the president a one hundred dollar bill.

My Father used to like to explain how he was working on the assembly line at one of the big three auto companies, next to his friend, before the UAW organized. One day the foreman came by and told his friend to punch out, he was all done. No explanation, nothing. He was replaced with the foreman's nephew, who never could keep up, making it much harder on my Father. My Father was one of the original sit down strikers, latter he became a foreman, but never lost his respect for what the union did for workers.

I'm sure the Flint sit-down strikers would have all paid their dues voluntarily, aren't you?

gypsy:

My Father used to like to explain how he was working on the assembly line at one of the big three auto companies, next to his friend, before the UAW organized. One day the foreman came by and told his friend to punch out, he was all done. No explanation, nothing. He was replaced with the foreman's nephew, who never could keep up, making it much harder on my Father. My Father was one of the original sit down strikers, latter he became a foreman, but never lost his respect for what the union did for workers.

 

I'm sure they would have, and I'm sure they were glad to get a contract where every worker became a dues paying union member, giving the union the strength needed to bargain with the most powerful corporation on Earth.

Hate to see this thread buried under two other RtW threads with almost no content.  This feels like a much livelier discussion.  

 I agree.  The discussion between NancyJE and gypsy in this thread is beautiful, filled with logical arguments and just enough animosity to make it entertaining.  Too bad all the voters in Michigan wouldn't take the time to read this.

 BTW gypsy, how is it that corporations that try to earn profits for their stockholders are "greedy", but unions who use coercion to force companies to pay higher than market wages and force workers to join and pay dues are not?